I had the pleasure of attending the conservatory orchestra and choir concert that was held at Brooklyn College on the night of May 5th.  The performance was held in the Whitman theater and promptly started at 7:30 p.m.  The orchestra performed three different works by Glinka, Bruch, and Handel.  The conservatory choir was only part of the Handel piece.

The first piece was composed by Mikhail Glinka, who was born in Novospasskoye, Russia on June 1, 1804.  Glinka died on February 15, 1857 in Berlin, Prussia which is now known as Germany.  Glinka was thought of as an “extraordinary phenomenon” because he was able to create such amazing music without having any formal training in composition.  The name of his work that was performed is Souvenir d’une nuit d’ete a Madrid, which lasted for about ten minutes.  A man named George Rothman was the conductor of the orchestra for this first performance. I have never listened to any of Glick’s music prior to attending this concert.  I really loved this entire piece, it started off very soft, slow, and subtle which led into a much louder and fast-paced melody.  This piece kept my attention throughout the entire performance because it had several small upbeat parts that occurred on an average of every other minute.

The second piece was composed by Max Bruch, who was born on January 6, 1838 in Cologne, Germany.  Bruch died on October 20, 1920 in Friedenau, Germany.  Bruch’s piece that was performed is entitled, Violin Concerto No.1 in G minor.  He began composing this piece when he was a teenager and finally completed it when he turned 28 years old.  Bruch became one of the most respected German composers of his time (the second half of the 19th century.)  George Rothman was also the conductor for this piece.  Violin Concerto No.1 in G minor is made up of three different movements with three different tempos.  The first movement was performed in the form of Vorspeil- Allegro moderato.  The second movement was performed in an Adagio pace and the third movement (finale) was performed in an Allegro energico pace.  Out of all the three pieces that were performed, this was my favorite one.  A woman named Alma Ramirez played violin while standing next to the conductor.  She did an absolutely beautiful job of performing the lead violin.  Watching her play was such a great experience because I could feel how passionate she was about the piece she was performing.